Thursday, May 29, 2014

"Bikes in Bloom"

I think we are finally free from the grasp of winter! Those
vial cold hands of winter have loosened their grasp for good until next winter. We should be having a warm spell and a thunders storm soon.

Another wonderful week in the small town of Rochelle.
We had a great week being able to serve a lot of people,
serving at food banks and finding small things to do here and there.

We helped this lady edge her lawn which she hadn't been able to do
for years. We also fixed up her bike and helped her get it outside for a thing she calls "bike in bloom". People get these old bikes and put flowers all over and around them and it looks pretty sweet to me on the account of how much I love bikes.
Speaking about bikes, on Wednesday morning before district
meeting our investigator invited us to go on a morning bike ride. I was
so stoked to go out riding because 1. This investigator is a bike
fanatic and 2. he designed, funded, and oversaw the town getting a 5
mile bike path put in. So to say the least I was pretty stoked. I
didnt know, on the other hand, that my companion hadn't rode a bike in 10 years. We woke up extra early to a nice foggy morning and made our way to our investigator's home. He geared us up with bikes and he let me use his first mountain bike that he ever got. It was like the Trek in the garage back home but much more maintained and tuned up. On our ride Elder Wilson was doing pretty good for not riding in years but as soon as I stopped worrying, the next thing I hear is a yip and a yep like
something you would hear from Jorge Velazquez, and as I looked back and at the very beginning of the path were 3 metal pillars, 1 on each side and one in the middle and I see Elder Wilson hit the middle pillar
straight on. He couldn't have been more accurate aiming for it.
He flipped right over his handle bars and landed right on his tush.
He got up dusted himself off and we were riding moments later. There
must have been karma floating around in the air because not even 500
feet later going around a curve my tires slipped right out from
underneath me. I was so shocked because of how nice the bike path was
and how foggy it was the tires couldn't hold enough grip to keep me
up. Now I felt so bad because I have rode bikes my whole life and
something like that had never happened to me. The investigator was
really cool about it though and like a true cyclist would say,
"if your bike doesn't have a scratch or 2 on it. You don't ride
enough."
The same is with us and life. Some people might ask, why do
bad things happen to good people. Well I may just say to them if bad
things don't happen in your life your either doing something wrong or
your not living. Trials, struggles and pains are influential in life to
help you get stronger, wiser, and smarter. It is through these experiences where we learn the most. Sometimes the only way for us to learn some lessons is through extreme trials. I know this is a true principle because I have experienced it in my own life. This is also taught in the Book of Mormon, Jacob 2:1-2 which Lehi the father of Jacob said, "Jacob because of the rudeness of your brothers you have gone
through a lot. But you know God's greatness and he has blessed your
trials for you to gain from them and to learn and grow." GOD BLESSES
YOUR TRIALS! So start seeing them for what they are. If your want
your trials to end, learn what God is trying to teach you and they might
just stop. Sometimes it stinks having to learn lesson the hard way but
it also the only way sometimes. You give a person a book on how to
ride a bike and they had never rode a bike in their life and the first
time they try to ride they decide their going to ride a 50 miler. You
mike as expect them to fail. We have to start out slow learn from our
mistakes and press forward so that one day we can ride that 50 miler
with out even thinking.
I know God loves us and seeks to bless our life, and this is why I'm
out here to teach people how to ride their "bike".
Keep on press forward strong
-Elder Herdt